Video Tips:

Articles:

Because of the wide variations in video processing and editing techniques, it is difficult to offer specific advice concerning its use. However, OurChurch.com has some excellent articles available in the “Web Trends Blog”. One article consists of several important video editing and publishing tips. It is available here:

In the following blog article there are 3 videos it is recommended every church have. While the article is written about church websites, the article is comprehensive enough to mention as something everyone should read, not just churches. It is available here:

As much as you want. Just keep in mind that video files take up both disk space and bandwidth. So, be sure you have the best hosting package for what you want to do. You can view info about our hosting packages here:

OurChurch.Com can accommodate any disk space or bandwidth need you might have. So, if you need more disk space or bandwidth than is offered in our hosting packages, please contact us and we would be happy to put together a custom package.

What video file types do you recommend?

There are many file types to select from and each have their own advantages. The most popular video format is .mpg or .mpeg, though .flv (a flash video format) is growing in popularity. Most video players can play .mpg, .mpeg, and .avi. making them more accessible.

Additional Info:

There are many things to consider when creating your digital video. The three most important factors are file size, video dimensions, and quality.

File size is important both in consideration of your hosting package’s disk space and bandwidth, but also in consideration of your visitors. Many people still aren’t using broadband. Using videos that have a very large file size can make it difficult, if not impossible for some visitors to view them.

The video’s dimensions refer to the size of the picture for the video. The larger the video’s dimensions the easier it will be for people to see. This is especially important if your visitors tend to be over the age of 35 or under the age of 13. At these ages it’s usually better to have slightly bigger text and bigger videos. But keep in mind that the larger a video’s dimensions, the larger the video’s file size will be. You may have to weigh the benefits of each.

Quality can be nice, but isn’t necessarily that important. If the video does not contain things that are important to see very clearly, you may be able to cut back the quality of the video to reduce the file size. For example, if you are putting up a video of your Pastor’s sermon, it’s probably not that important that visitors see the pastor very clearly. The important part is what is being said. Of course, you also don’t want the quality to be so bad it makes people not want to watch. On the other hand, if you putting up a video displaying your church’s new building, you may want better quality so people can clearly see the building. So, the quality you use may be determined by the content of the video and may be a great way to save some disk space.